Life Study
by Broken Heydar
Summary: Amy, Rory, a canvas, an antique brush, and the Doctor's blue-screened brain.


Originally written for a prompt over at the bringthehappy community on LiveJournal. I just couldn't resist.

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Amy chewed on the end of her paintbrush thoughtfully; the Doctor said it was a very expensive antique from a planet in the Seashell Galaxy that had outlawed all forms of artwork about five thousand years after she was born, but she found that it had a delightful sugar-mint taste that helped her focus, so antiquity by damned. Pulling it away from her mouth, she carefully added more definition to a leg. "Stop squirming. I'm almost done."

"I can't help it," Rory said, resisting the urge to scratch his nose. "It's warm in here, and you know I get itchy when I'm hot." Darting an eye over at Amy, he quickly risked a scratch while she was mixing a colour on her palette.

Amy looked up from her palette and fixed an eye on him. "And you wouldn't be warm if you hadn't asked me to turn up the heating now, would you?" Lifting the brush with her newly-created colour on it, Amy carefully added shading to Rory's chin.

"Well I was cold then, wasn't I?" Rory risked Amy's wrath by turning his head to look directly at her. Her tongue was sticking out the side of her mouth as she leaned in close to the canvas. She didn't seem to notice his transgression. "Couldn't you have just gotten me a blanket or something?"

Amy leaned around the side of the canvas and smirked at Rory. "And how do you think I could paint you if you're wrapped in a blanket, hmm? Now turn your head back, I'm working on that bit." Pulling her own head back behind the canvas, Amy added a stroke to the hairline. "Anyway, you wouldn't be warm if you'd just stop blushing. It throws off your colour."

Rory rolled his eyes. "Yes, Amy, it's just that easy. You've had me _naked_ for the past two hours and I haven't stopped ... blushing ... throughout." Rory twitched his neck slightly to loosen a developing cramp. "I think if I could stop I probably would have by now."

"Oh, complain, complain." Amy paused to regard the canvas for a moment. "I'm married to you. It's not like I've haven't seen it all before." Very carefully she leaned forward and traced a faint crease around his eyes. "Just relax. We're in the TARDIS. The only ones who might come looking are the Doctor or that thing in the garden, and we're far enough away that it'll take them hours to find us."

"Yes, well." Rory shrugged, earning a slight glare. "I'm just not all that used to having my clothes off this much. I feel naked. And don't look at me like that," he said, breaking pose to point a finger at Amy. "You know exactly what I mean."

Amy's lip twitched as she mentally stomped on the jokes that sprang to mind. "Don't worry. I won't be much longer. Just got the finishing touches." Amy waved her brush in the air triumphantly. "And then you get to help me stash these back where I got them before the Doctor figures out what happened to them."

Rory sighed affectionately. "And so after making my bum fall asleep you ask me to be your partner in crime. Against the _Doctor_." Shaking his head slightly he found himself smiling. "It's a good thing I love you, you know."

"Love you too," Amy said with a grin. "Now stop distracting me or we'll be here for ages." Peering carefully at her palette, Amy grabbed another tube of paint out of her bag and carefully added a tiny amount to the colour she'd just mixed, swirling it with her brush.

Rory stealthily stretched his limbs as much as he could while Amy's attention was on the board. "I'll be good, I promise. If I stay like this any longer than I have to things might start falling off, and... hang on." Rory went quiet for a moment. "Can you hear that?"

Amy was about to make a comment about plastic hearing when she _did_ hear it: a faint, muffled buzz. _Sonic screwdriver._ Her recognition clicked at the same time the door's lock did. Rory and Amy had just enough time to turn and look as the door swung upwards.

The Doctor strode through the open doorway, glowering as he tucked his sonic away in his jacket, looking every inch the Oncoming Storm that Amy had heard him talk about. "Right then, Amelia Jessica Pond! I want to know just what ... you were ..." The Doctor stopped midstride and blinked repeatedly at the display in the middle of the room, his jaw caught open as language momentarily left him.

Rory and Amy both stared back at him, eyes wide and, in Rory's case, verging on panic. As his brain caught up to the situation Rory yelped and quickly spun around on the platform, pulling his knees up against his chest. Amy's hand flew to her mouth as she forcefully tamped down the giggles that threatened to bubble out halfway between horror and hysteria. "Doctor! Good to see you! Think you could knock next time?"

The Oncoming Storm's jaw snapped shut. "What? Oh. Um. Sorry, I..." His hand absently ratted out a knock against his leg as he continued to stare blankly at Rory's quickly reddening back. "Amy. Just a question. Am I seeing things, or is Rory naked?"

"Yes, _extremely_ naked, thank you!" Rory's voice was tinted with suppressed panic. "And I'd very much appreciate if someone could pass me my clothes, please."

Amy bit her lip as another wave of giggles rose up. Setting her board and brushes to the side, she grabbed Rory's shirt and trousers. "Sorry. I really didn't think he'd find us here so quickly."

The Doctor turned his head towards Amy, his face still waiting for an expression besides shock to turn up. "Heat signatures. Once I stripped out the garden it was easy." He blinked again and looked back at Rory.

Rory snatched at the shirt Amy offered and quickly began to pull it on. "Easy, he says. Never find us, _you_ said." Giving Amy a baleful eye, he buttoned his shirt. "Why do I let you talk me into these things?"

Amy was now turning her own shade of red from the effort of not bursting out in laughter. Shaking her head, she silently handed Rory his trousers as her shoulders quivered. Rory grabbed them and looked up at her before sighing with resignation. "It's okay. You can laugh. I don't mind."

"Oh, no! No, I would never." Amy held her hand out in protest as Rory pulled on his trousers, forcing her face into a semblance of seriousness. "Nothing funny about this, and I'm sure the Doctor agrees. Don't you, Doctor?"

"What? Oh!" The Doctor shook his head as his mind found its way back to him. Belatedly he turned to face the wall. "No, nothing funny. Sorry, Rory, I just didn't expect... well, I didn't _expect_."

Rory zipped himself up and scrubbed his hands over his face. "That makes two of us, Doctor." He fixed Amy with a Look. "Next time you are putting a sign on the door."


End file.
